In the game of golf, various obstacles are present on the course to make play more challenging to the golfer. Such obstacles include overgrown vegetation, sand traps, and water hazards. During play, it is likely that a golfer will encounter one of the obstacles on the course and have his ball encumbered by such obstacles. In certain circumstances, the ball can be seen, but not conveniently reached as when a ball comes to rest in a water hazard. The golfer is then confronted with either losing an often times expensive golf ball or employing an implement to retrieve the ball from the obstacle. One such implement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,487 to Fulop which employs a retaining device having a spring that is displaced upon entry of the golf ball in the retaining device. Once the ball completely passes through the entrance plane, the spring returns to its original position thus capturing the ball in the retaining device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,503 to Jeninga captures a ball with a pair of bail members that allow the ball to pass through to a stop and by their own weight return to their normal resting position to capture the ball between the bail members. Other patents employ a cup member (U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,598 to Bredow) or a cylinder in which a golf ball is permitted to pass through an elastic member to be captured within the cylinder (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,387 to Bobst).
These prior designs are large and cumbersome and are difficult to maneuver in place over a golf ball when retrieving. Thus, the need exists for a golf ball retriever that avoids the shortcomings of prior designs.